60041: The hadeeth about Adam’s tawassul by the Prophet, and the meaning of the verse “And seek the means of approach to Him”

I hope that you can explain to me the meaning of the verse (interpretation of the meaning):
“O you who believe! Do your duty to Allaah and fear Him. And seek the means of approach to Him”
[al-Maa’idah 5:35]
That is so that we may refute what the Sufis say about tawassul, because some of them interpret it as meaning that it is permissible to seek to draw close to Allaah by the Prophets and awliya’ (“saints”). With regard to the hadeeth about Adam committing a sin, they say that al-Bayhaqi classed the hadeeth as saheeh, and that al-Dhahabi praised his book.

Praise be to Allaah.

Firstly:

The hadeeth about Adam committing a sin and seeking to draw
closer to Allaah by the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon
him) is a fabricated hadeeth which is falsely attributed to the Prophet
(peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) and to Adam (peace be upon
him).

We have stated that in the answer to question no.
34715,
where we quoted the scholars’ comments on the falseness of this hadeeth.
These scholars include Imam al-Dhahabi (may Allaah have mercy on him).

Al-Bayhaqi (may Allaah have mercy on him) did not narrate
this hadeeth in his Sunan, rather he narrated it in Dalaa’il
al-Nubuwwah (5/489), where he classed it as da’eef (weak). After quoting
the hadeeth, he said: “It was narrated only by ‘Abd al-Rahmaan ibn Zayd ibn
Aslam, and he is da’eef.”

What makes it most likely that the text is false is the fact
that the du’aa’ by which Allaah accepted Adam’s repentance is what is
mentioned in Soorat al-A’raaf, where Allaah says (interpretation of the
meaning):

“They said: ‘Our Lord! We have wronged ourselves. If You
forgive us not, and bestow not upon us Your Mercy, we shall certainly be of
the losers’”

[al-A’raaf 7:23]

This is the supplication
of Adam and Hawwa’, in which they called upon Allaah alone, and sought to
draw close to Him (tawassul) by His names and attributes, and by mentioning
their situation. These are words which Adam received from his Lord, then he
said them and Allaah accepted his repentance, as Allaah says (interpretation
of the meaning):

“Then Adam received from
his Lord Words. And his Lord pardoned him (accepted his repentance). Verily,
He is the One Who forgives (accepts repentance), the Most Merciful”

[al-Baqarah 2:37]

Secondly:

What is meant by the word waseelah [means of approach] in the
verse, (interpretation of the meaning):

“O you who believe! Do your duty to Allaah and fear Him.
And seek the means of approach to Him, and strive hard in His Cause (as much
as you can), so that you may be successful”

[al-Maa’idah 5:35]

is the way of reaching Allaah, and there is no way of
reaching Him except the way that Allaah loves and is pleased with, which is
by obeying Him and not disobeying Him.

Ibn Katheer (may Allaah have mercy on him) said:

Allaah commands His believing slaves to fear Him (taqwa).
When this word is accompanied by mention of obedience, it means refraining
from haraam things. After that Allaah says, “And seek the means of
approach to Him”. Sufyaan al-Thawri said, narrating from Talhah, from
‘Ata’, from Ibn ‘Abbaas: i.e., drawing close to Him. This was also stated by
Mujaahid, Abu Waa’il, al-Hasan, Qataadah, ‘Abd-Allaah ibn Katheer, al-Saddi,
Ibn Zayd and others. Qataadah said: i.e., draw close to Him by obeying Him
and doing that which pleases Him, and Ibn Zayd recited (interpretation of
the meaning):

There is no difference of
opinion among the mufassireen concerning what these imams said.

Means of approach or means of access means that by means of
which one reaches one’s goal. End quote.

Tafseer Ibn Katheer, 2/53, 54.

Al-Shanqeeti (may Allaah have mercy on him) said:

Note that the majority of
scholars are of the view that what is meant by waseelah here is drawing
close to Allaah by obeying His commands and avoiding that which He has
forbidden, in accordance with the teachings brought by Muhammad (peace
and blessings of Allaah be upon him), doing that sincerely for the sake of
Allaah alone, because this is the only path that leads to the pleasure of
Allaah and attaining what is with Him and what is good in this world and in
the Hereafter.

The basic meaning of the word waseelah is a path that brings
one near to something. Here it means righteous deeds, according to scholarly
consensus, because there is no other way of drawing close to Allaah apart
from following the Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah
be upon him). Based on this, there are many verses which explain the meaning
of waseelah, such as the following (interpretation of the meaning):

It was narrated from Ibn ‘Abbaas that what is meant by
waseelah is need.

Based on this, the words narrated from Ibn ‘Abbaas, “Seek
with Him al-waseelah” mean, seek your needs from Allaah, for He alone is the
one who is able to meet them. This is further explained by the verses in
which Allaah says (interpretation of the meaning):

“Verily, those whom you worship besides Allaah have no
power to give you provision, so seek your provision from Allaah (Alone), and
worship Him (Alone)”

[al-‘Ankaboot 29:17]

“and ask Allaah of His Bounty”

[al-Nisa’ 4:32]

And by the hadeeth: “If you ask, then ask of Allaah.”

Then al-Shanqeeti (may Allaah have mercy on him) said: The
correct view concerning the meaning of waseelah is that of the majority of
scholars, that it means drawing closer to Allaah by worshipping Him alone,
in accordance with the teachings of the Messenger (peace and blessings
of Allaah be upon him). The tafseer of Ibn ‘Abbaas comes under this heading,
because calling upon Allaah (du’aa’) and praying humbly to Him when asking
for one’s needs is one of the greatest forms of worship which is waseelah or
seeking to draw closer to Him and attain His pleasure and mercy.

From this it may be understood that what many of the heretics
and followers of ignorant men who claim to be Sufis say, which is that what
is meant by waseelah in the verse is the Shaykh who has the power of
mediation between him and his Lord, is ignorance, blindness and obvious
misguidance; it is toying with the Book of Allaah. Taking intermediaries is
the essence of the kufr of the kaafirs, as Allaah clearly stated when He
said concerning them (interpretation of the meaning):

“[They say:] We worship them only that they may bring us
near to Allaah”

[al-Zumar 39:3]

“and they say: ‘These are our intercessors with Allaah.’
Say: ‘Do you inform Allaah of that which He knows not in the heavens and on
the earth?’ Glorified and Exalted is He above all that which they associate
as partners (with Him)!”

[Yoonus 10:18]

Every one who is
accountable must understand that the way to attain the pleasure of Allaah
and His Paradise and His mercy is to follow His Messenger (peace and
blessings of Allaah be upon him). Whoever deviates from that has gone astray
from the straight path.

“It will not be in accordance with your desires (Muslims),
nor those of the people of the Scripture (Jews and Christians), whosoever
works evil, will have the recompense thereof”

[al-Nisa’4:123]

The meaning of waseelah that we have explained here is also
the meaning in the verse where Allaah says (interpretation of the meaning):

“Those whom they call upon [like ‘Eesa (Jesus) ‑ son of
Maryam (Mary), ‘Uzayr (Ezra), angels and others] desire (for themselves)
means of access to their Lord (Allaah) as to which of them should be the
nearest”

[al-Isra’ 17:57]

Another meaning of
waseelah is the status in Paradise which the Prophet (peace and
blessings of Allaah be upon him) told us to ask Allaah to grant to him, and
we hope that Allaah will give it to him, because only one person will be
entitled to it, and he hoped that he would be the one. End quote.